Of 37 Upper House seats slated for March 16 polls across 10 states, BJP to work hard to picjk up 5-6 extra .... “manoeuvrings” kicked off
PM Narendra Modi keen to reward organisational hands such as the current national vice-presidents and general secretaries.
There will be RSS quota but the cut off age of 75 may be applied too.
In Odisha, with 65 MLAs on the Opposition side, including the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)’s 51 MLAs, at least one seat will go to the principal Opposition with the final seat up for grabs for both sides.
NDA set to bag 19 seats :
BJP and allies eye "massive" cross voting to win maximum 20 plus in Rajya Sabha polls
As plain calculation suggests, the BJP and allies have enough numbers to elect 19 MPs as against Opposition's 12.
Along with the saffron party; Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh are expected to play their cards well.
The Lotus party may even field one or two retired bureaucrats in some states.
The saffron party is likely to release its list around Holi in early March.
The BJP-led NDA is looking to increase its tally in the Rajya Sabha significantly.
In addition to 37 seats, another 34 vacancies are set to arise in the Upper House by the end of year 2026.
Several stalwarts including Sharad Pawar will retire and many of them face mega hurdles to re-enter Parliament.
The minimum number of Assembly seats, as per the foundational formula of a particular ally’s legislators in the House, is clear in states where the NDA is in majority, such as Maharashtra and Bihar.
But other states, where the BJP or NDA is in power with a relatively smaller margin of seats, such as Odisha and Haryana will be interesting to watch.
Several factors are in play when it comes to choosing a candidate for elevation to the Rajya Sabha.
BJP may avoid repetition of members who are about to complete their second consecutive term totalling 12 years.
As it stands, the NDA has 133 MPs in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, with the BJP itself accounting for 103 seats.
The BJP keen for 20 more to touch the 123-seat majority mark.
In Maharashtra, where the BJP-led Mahayuti has 235 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly, the NDA is likely to claim six of the seven vacant seats.
Here, each vacant seat will require the support of 41 MLAs.
In Bihar, where the “magic number” is 49 MLAs, the NDA is in a position to win four of the five seats but, sources say, it may stake claim on all.
In Odisha, where the BJP is in power with around 80 MLAs including its allies, the party is closer to the required figure of 37 MLAs per seat only in the cases of two of the four vacancies.
In Assam, the NDA’s 86 MLAs would enable it to get two of the three vacant seats, given the required figure of 42 MLAs per Upper House berth.
But in the remaining seat, the Opposition’s 39 legislators are falling three short of the “magic number”.
In Haryana, the NDA has 50 MLAs, five more than the required figure of 45. At 37 MLAs, the Opposition is short by eight.
Maharashtra will be an interesting case in point given the developments around the two NCP factions and their stalwart Sharad Pawar being also among the retiree MPs.
Newly-elected BJP national president Nitin Nabin, whose new team is likely to be in place by the end of this month, is certainly among the frontrunners for a Rajya Sabha berth from the BJP’s quota.
Others are from among the 11 national BJP vice-presidents and the eight national general secretaries (including the post of national general secretary organisation).
Many prominent faces who have served in gubernatorial and bureaucratic roles are also said to be among the contenders.
The members whose terms are ending include Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Dr. Fauzia Tahseen Ahmed Khan, Priyanka Vickram Chaturvedi, Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar, Dhairyashil Mohan Patil, Rajani Ashokrao Patil and Ramdas Bandu Athawale from Maharashtra;
Mamata Mohanta, Muzibulla Khan, Sujeet Kumar and Niranjan Bishi from Odisha;
N.R. Elango, P. Selvarasu, M. Thambidurai, Tiruchi Siva, Dr. Kanimozhi NVN Somu and G.K. Vasan from Tamil Nadu; Saket Gokhale, Ritabrata Banerjee, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Mausam Noor and Subrata Bakshi from West Bengal;
Rameswar Teli, Bhubaneswar Kalita and Ajit Kumar Bhuyan from Assam;
Amarendra Dhari Singh, Prem Chand Gupta, Ramnath Thakur, Upendra Kushwaha and Haribansh Narayan Singh from Bihar; Kavi Tejpal Singh Tulsi and Phulo Devi Netam from Chhattisgarh; Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra from Haryana;
Indu Bala Goswami from Himachal Pradesh; and Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi and K.R. Suresh Reddy from Telangana.
One seat in West Bengal has been vacant with effect from January 5, 2026.
No comments:
Post a Comment